One Tank series: Iowa's historic State Theatre

Vacation season is upon us.

You may want to get away, but don’t have a ton of cash.

Local 4 News has you covered by showing you places you can get to on one tank of gas.

First up is the State Theatre in Washington, Iowa.

“You’ll never see something else like it,” said State Theatre Staff Rikki Christner.

Going to the movies is a pretty common pastime, but the State Theatre has offered something different for the last 120 years.

“The old-time feel and nostalgia of the old days,” said Moviegoer Kim Charlier.

Crystle Christner is the general manager.

She’s been working at the State Theater for eight years and says she loves sharing the history of it with newcomers.

“We’ve been open since 1893. We have been open constantly since then. We have not shut down or changed venues. We’ve always been a cinema or a theater. We were opened as an opera house and then in 1897 we started to show movies here,” said Crystle.

Staff say the theater has old-school charm and little things people can check out like a projector. They say it came out some time between the 1940s and the 1970s and they used it all the way up until 2010, when they switched from film to digital.

“Just the nostalgia and the big screen, the ambiance and they just enjoy the curtain going up and down and the seats are wonderfully comfortable,” Charlier said.

Crystle says they have regulars, including Kim Charlier who takes her grandkids to the big screen about once a week.

“They like to watch this curtain roll up. They just sit there and wait. They always watch it because it goes up really slow. It’s not like other theaters,” Charlier said.

Charlier says the staff also makes them feel right at home.

“The feel, the friendliness. They know you when you walk in the door,” said Charlier.

“When people come here, they come to sit in the comfortable seats, watch the curtain go up, bring their families and they can drop their kids off at the door, and the kids can come in, watch a movie and they pick them up afterwards. They have no worries. Our staff is good. We would pay attention, and it’s just a nice hometown feeling when you come in,” said Crystle.

Rikki Christner works concessions and checks the theater during the movie.

She says they get guests from all over, including a recent visitor from Wisconsin.

“He didn’t know anything about it. He didn’t know there was only one screen, so it was kind of cool to tell him, and it is nice to tell people who aren’t from here because they’ve never seen it, and they’re just amazed by how nice it is and how well it’s kept up,” said Rikki.

Staff say Washington, Iowa has more to offer than just the State Theatre.

“We have Dodici’s up on the corner, which is a world-famous restaurant. They do Italian food and serve that. There’s a lot of small shops in our town,” said Crystle.

Charlier urges people to come down, grab some popcorn and enjoy a new movie with an old-time feel.

“I think that even if you’re from another city, this is a unique experience. You go to other ones and it’s very commercial. So, you come here and you see the old-time theater booths and it’s got that feel,” said Charlier.

A one-tank trip well worth it to have that special movie experience with the ones you love.

The next part of our one tank series is coming up Wednesday night on Local 4 News at 10 p.m. 

A trip to the shortest, steepest railroad in the world, and it’s less than a tank of gas away.